Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Mastering the Master Bedroom

My husband and I have been married for 8 years and for over 7 of those years we had a hand-me-down bedroom. It worked and was fine with us. When we moved into our home 7 years ago we decided we wanted to worry about furnishing and decorating the parts of the house that guests saw whenever they came over. And since not too many guests recline on your bed in your bedroom over dinner and drinks, we continuously moved our bedroom to the bottom of the list. But last March we finally put ourselves first and bought our first ever bedroom set. From there we decided to start from scratch, which meant all new paint, bedding, drapes and decor. 

First we bought the furnishings. We shopped around at big chain furniture stores, but ended up buying from a smaller local furniture company. We were very happy working with a family owned business, and got a fantastic deal on great, well made furniture. We got the bed and two nightstands as well as a unique dresser.

After having a very dark bedroom (red and tan) for several years, we wanted to really brighten things up. We painted the walls a very light color of green.

(Note: You can click all pics to enlarge them.)




Can you tell which side of the bed is mine? (And yikes! We need to hide that power cord.)


I love to have fresh flowers around the house. Normally, I like to have white and green flowers in the bedroom, but I had to go with yellow this time. But I kind of like it! Extra pop of color. I also love using old glass carafes as vases. I try to remember a rule that my sister in law taught me (she has an interior decorating background) of arranging items in 3s (Tall, Medium and Short) and in a  triangle formation. A great trick to acheive height when you need it is to use hardback books. Just take the cover off and you have a very classic look. Personal photos (ours are from our wedding) are always great, especially in a personal space like the bedroom. But remember that you can frame other things as well. In the small frame next to the flowers is our table card from some close friends' wedding.


The wall where the dresser is looked sort of empty, so we added sconces to either side. And I put all of our perfume and cologne on a tray...easy access and a pretty display.




The Breakdown:
Furniture: Hooker from Moore's

Bedding: Pottery Barn Outlet

Lamps: Pottery Barn Outlet

Drapes: Bed Bath & and Beyond (With a 20% off coupon! Remember, they never expire)

Sconces: Kohls (During a buy one get one free on lighting, so we also got a great item for our new master bathroom.)

Prints: Ikea (These have been with us through 2 apartments and now our home.) 

Tray for perfume: Micahels (With a 40% off coupon. Available each week in the Sunday paper or you can always fine one online to print out. Never ever go into Micahels, AC Moore or JoAnn's without a coupon...and they all accept each other's coupons.)

Flowers:We get our flowers from the Acme Grocery or Produce Junction, a local produce place. Cheap! The flowers in the pics here cost a total of $8 for 2 bunches, which made a total of 2 large and 2 small bouquets.

We still have a few things to do to the room. (Did you notice the doors to the closet and bathroom? Yep, white trim and beige doors. We'll get to it eventually!) And I still feel like we need a few things here and there to make it a bit more cozy. But all in all, I love our bedroom now and love ending each day reading in my cozy get away!

So, tell me, what is your master bedroom like? Just a place to sleep or a relaxing escape?


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jessi- here is a question for you. I have always been told that the drapes in a bedroom (or any room for that matter) should lightly skim the floor. In other words, have them touch the floor with a tiny bit extra. Sort of gives it a taller look. I see that yours don't.

Thoughts?
Elise

Jessi said...

Elise--
Excellent observation! And yes, I whole heartedly agree with the theory that drapes should skim the floor. I even prefer that they puddle on the floor. However, this is a point of contention with my husband. We have this discussion every time we hang drapes, and somehow he always seems to win. And now every time I walk into a room the drapes bother me. I actually just told him the other day that I can't take the ones in the living room any longer and I am either getting new ones, or finding fabric to add to the bottom of the current ones. However the ones in the bedroom will probably remain the length they are as we have 2 air vents directly under the drapes, which causes a bit of a problem.
Thanks so much for your question!

Kathleen said...

Yeah! Sooo glad you started this! Love it so far and look forward to reading more and getting inspiration! ALSO when we get our tax return, I really must stop talking and start doing and have you help me finish our room and the basement! Keep up the great work! :)

Lisa said...

Um, is your side the one with all the books under the night stand??? :-)

Jessi said...

Lisa, you bet! ;)